


the springtime light

by screechfox



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, F/F, Nesting Urges, old fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 17:57:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8111926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screechfox/pseuds/screechfox
Summary: Each and every spring, Lomadia experiences the equivalent of nesting urges. These get in the way of work and personal life, but they're really not all that bad.





	

Every springtime, what is a mere want in the rest of the year becomes a deep-seated need in Lomadia’s chest. It’s a bone-deep desire to create somewhere warm and safe, and to have someone soft and  _ there _ to share it with. 

She always figures out that it’s started the moment she finds herself poaching some of Nilesy’s blankets to put on her own bed, sitting there and rubbing her feet in them and inhaling his scent with what little sense of smell she has. 

(Nilesy always realises it about two weeks before, when she starts menacing his cats more than usual. Damn owls.)

Lomadia pushes down the instincts for as long as she can - she  _ does _ have work to do, even if it’s not exactly high pay, and it won’t do itself no matter how much she’d like it to. But eventually, something has to give, and when Nilesy takes her aside and gives her the rundown of how many potential clients she’s probably scared away with her attitude over the last two weeks, Lomadia knows it’s time to relax.

Not that the process is exactly relaxing - for her  _ or _ Nilesy.

For one, Lomadia claims almost every blanket in the house, aside from the newest ones that still remind her of the bright sterility of the supermarkets. Even the most threadbare pieces of fabric are brought along, much to Nilesy’s indignancy as they have a half hour debate on why his childhood blanket isn’t suitable nesting material. She wins.

But then there’s the process of nest-building. Back when she lived on her own, Lomadia would always just let her instincts take over to find the right spot to curl up in until she had to get food. Now… Well, the company is an advantage and a disadvantage. After an incident where she very nearly ate one of the cats, Lomadia has been banned from entirely letting instincts run her, so, as it is, she has to use her own human better judgement to work out what goes where.

But even so, Nilesy can help her out with that; by shooing their menagerie away, or by helping her match blankets and suggest what she’d find appealing. Originally it surprised her how good he was at that, when his decorating skills start and finish at painting an entire room one colour. But now they’re closer, she adores it. Plus, with the company, she could easily stay in her nest for the entire month, but Lomadia always feels bad taking advantage of Nilesy like that.

Usually, the whole process takes about a week of work to do, and generally involves moving a lot of furniture. At the end, though, they’ve got something that more resembles an incredibly ambitious blanket fort than a nest - a thin netted blanket in various shades of green doubling for a forest canopy - and Lomadia is satisfied.

At which point, she curls up in the middle of it, arms around Nilesy whether he’s staying or leaving, and sleeps for what seems like a week.

 

Lomadia awakes sometime later, warm and contented and just a little bit dazed, to the sounds of spring showers pounding down outside. She remembers something about Nilesy going out to the shops, and wonders if he remembered to bring an umbrella this time, before she turns her head and sees a familiar face.

There are two people in this city that Lomadia would trust with her life. One of them’s Nilesy, who’ll be coming home later, accent echoing into the room as he shakes himself dry, before coming in and curling up in the nest of cushions and blankets with her.

The other is Nano, who is far more unpredictable than Nilesy. She’s flicking through something on her phone as if she hadn’t noticed that Lomadia was awake before Lomadia herself did. There’s something warmer about her eyes than usual in this light, Lomadia thinks, a little sappily. The dark, dark crimson looks almost brown.

With that thought, Nano turns off her phone, giving up the pretence and shifting her head to look Lomadia in the eyes unabashedly. Maybe it’s not just the light, Lomadia thinks, but is interrupted before she can continue that train of thought.

“Next spring you’re just going to build a palace, aren’t you?” Nano asks, amused and teasing.

Lomadia laughs softly, genuinely considering the idea for a moment. Then she groans, mostly melodramatically, and buries her head in the cushion below her and ignoring the twinges of pain that the sudden movement gives her. “Not ‘nough blankets,” She says, muffled by the fabric.

The sound of Nano’s gasping is loud, equally as exaggerated - and unexpected when she hadn’t been breathing a moment before. Then she giggles, and Lomadia feels her moving closer, though her body is annoyingly room temperature. “I’m surprised you had enough blankets for this place. Is there a blanket apocalypse that I should be stockpiling for?”

Lomadia would flip her off, but Nano’s presence is lulling her into a treacherous state of relaxation again, where her limbs feel like lead. Whether it’s the vampiric charm legends speak of - (Nano’s about as  _ charming _ as a naked mole rat, but there’s  _ something _ to the legends) - or if it’s just Lomadia’s bird-mind feeling safe and relaxed. Either way, she pulls another blanket over herself.

“Me ‘nd Nilesy never get rid of any.” When they keep accumulating animals, it always seems a waste to even give the blankets to charity. After all, tomorrow they could find a pregnant stray cat and have to look after the kittens.

Some of the kittens that aren’t old enough to be adopted formally by anyone are in their own little nests around Lomadia’s, occasionally getting preened by an owl that’s decided they’re just strangely shaped chicks. The  _ actual _ chicks haven’t been let in here yet - better to wait a few more weeks.

Lomadia can feel Nano nodding. There’s a comfortable silence for a while, but for the sound of Lomadia’s breathing and Nano cooing delightedly over a kitten that’s evidently gotten close to her, and may well be regretting it now.

“You turn any of my kittens into vampires and you’re not coming into the nest again,” Lomadia says as she moves her head slowly to look at Nano. She’s holding a ginger kitten, one of their newest litter, that seems very content to sit on her hand and be stroked and cooed at. 

Nano makes a face. “Even if I wanted to turn a kitten into a vampire, I wouldn’t do it to one of  _ yours _ . Besides, there’s a lot of fur to get through.” Lomadia’s seeing the loophole Nano’s going for, though, judging by how taken she is with the little thing.

“You’d have to ask Nilesy about buying her, unless you want to wait until spring’s over.” The human part of Lomadia’s mind is too cloudy for business talk, especially when Nano widens her eyes just so, pouting at Lomadia.

“And don’t even think about turning it until the ninth life. Otherwise it was a waste of magic for me and Nilesy both,” Lomadia adds, trying to be unswayed but failing. Nano’s innocent expression disappears at once, replaced with a laugh that startles the kitten in her hands into jumping onto the cushions below.

“Oh, and we wouldn’t want  _ that _ , now would we?” Nano’s teasing, it’s clear - she knows the value of spending magic wisely as much as anyone, with the everblooming flowers that are her signature. (Lomadia’s wondered before at a vampire practicing life magic, but it’s never stayed with her for long.)

Lomadia finds a laugh bubbling in her chest, despite herself, and lets it free, pushing herself up into a sitting position despite the heaviness of her muscles. Nano smiles at her, almost good naturedly, then shuffles over to lean against Lomadia. She leans back, even though she’s a good head or two taller than Nano - not the cliche ideal. 

A warm coil begins to uncurl in Lomadia’s stomach, and she’s smiling widely, even though Nano’s presence isn’t even the temperature of the air around them both. 

There’s another silence then, the pair of them just taking the world in as the kitten regains confidence to sit on Nano’s lap until it gets bored, going off to play-fight some of its siblings in the boundlessly energetic manner of a kitten.

After a while, spurred on by some little inclination, Lomadia turns her head slowly and begins alternately pressing kisses to and nosing through Nano’s hair. It’s a bit of a hot mess, after all, like Nano herself, and Lomadia only wishes she had a beak or something right now so she could actually groom it into perfection.

It’s not like Nano minds either way, of course, making happy noises and leaning into Lomadia more - turning her own head to press her lips in a facsimile of a kiss to Lomadia’s neck. Now, Lomadia isn’t exactly unobservant. She knows exactly what Nano is going for there. Unsurprising, really, since there’s still natural light flickering into the nest - it must be at least midday. 

Any other time, Lomadia would complain, jokingly, that she felt she was giving more than she got out of this. But right now, it’s just nice. Comforting and safe in the way having a vampire’s mouth over a pulse point really shouldn’t be.

So Lomadia continues grooming - bringing one hand up to half-heartedly assist herself in the attempt at making Nano’s hair remotely neat - and Nano continues pretending what she’s doing is kissing. Indulging each other, really. It’s almost meditative, rhythmic - kiss, kiss, groom, repeat - and it almost lulls Lomadia to sleep. Which would be awkward.

Luckily, before that can happen, Nano looks up at Lomadia through her lashes in the way she  _ knows _ that Lomadia can’t resist and cocks her head. Although momentarily displeased to have been stopped in her careful grooming, Lomadia understands the question perfectly. She nods. She trusts Nano.

Nano breaks out into the widest grin - always seeming to expect that Lomadia will change her mind. The points of her canines are somehow more obvious now, but she can only see them for a fraction of a second before Nano’s curtain of dark hair covers them as she leans in, murmuring something warmly.

It hurts, of course. It always does - no one said being bitten was pleasant to begin with. It’s almost enough to make Lomadia consider pulling away before the warmth suddenly bursts through her veins. She goes almost limp against Nano, who’s luckily stronger than she looks, though she does hear a mumbled swear - feels the movement of lips against her neck, the touch tingling starkly against the warmth that weighs her down.

Now, Lomadia knows Nano well enough to know that, well-meaning if cheeky as she is, (mostly - Lomadia has heard tell), she’s not exactly in possession of a huge amount of self restraint. It’s why Lomadia almost always makes a point out of asking her what she and Lalna have been up to lately - otherwise she thinks the two might level the city. 

This fact means that Lomadia’s had to learn where the limits are for Nano drinking from her, and enforce them herself. (Not that Nano would drain her  _ dry _ , but it’s nice to be certain.) It’s a little bit regrettable, at that point, because Lomadia had managed to keep trying ineffectually to groom Nano through this entire thing, but slowly, she brings herself to push Nano gently. Her limbs are like lead.

Thankfully, Nano gets the message instantly, so Lomadia doesn’t have to spend extra energy pushing again. She breaks away, then immediately seems to realise her mistake. Bite wounds aren’t large unless she’s  _ trying _ , but even so, this is still bleeding, and Lomadia has already lost a fair amount of blood. Nano disappears so fast Lomadia almost thinks she’s teleported, until she hears the hurried steps upstairs.

A detached part of Lomadia’s brain tosses up between bleeding on her shirt or on the pillows. It’s a tough choice, really, but she doesn’t have long to think about it. Nano’s down in a few more moments, a pack of plasters in her hand that she’s already opening. 

The heavy feeling is leaving her now, but that means the wound is starting to hurt again, and Lomadia hisses, grabbing the packet out of Nano’s hand and tearing it open. She can go and clean the bite in a bit, once it’s not bleeding everywhere, so she puts a paw-print plaster on it then leans back against the pillows carefully.

Nano tilts her head down at her, panic over as she retrieves the packet and pockets it. There’s an expression on her face that Lomadia doesn’t quite know how to read, and then Nano reaches out and gently strokes a knuckle over the bridge of her nose.

It feels weird, raised, and in this half-hazy state, it takes Lomadia a few moments to work out what it is.

She always ends up shifting at least partially during the springtime, and it’s not exactly a leap to guess that this is the start. Nano seems vaguely bemused, but Lomadia waves off her hand with a roll of her eyes. 

“It’s a part of a beak, Nano,” Lomadia says, tone dry. Nano seems confused for a moment, before laughing and grinning - which is fair enough, she’s only heard tell of last spring from Nilesy and Lomadia, never witnessed it herself.

She flops down next to Lomadia contentedly, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She’s beginning to browse some sites for cat care - obviously thinking about the kitten she’s going to buy - and it makes Lomadia smile. The bite’s pain has faded to a dull ache, and Lomadia shuts her eyes, though she reaches out and curls her hand around Nano’s free one gently.

Maybe she’ll go and clean the wound once she’s awake instead.

 

When Lomadia awakes, Nano is gone, the cushions where she’d been lying left haphazardly strewn. The window’s half open - evidently Nano’s choice of exit - allowing Lomadia to hear that the rain hasn’t let up at all, even though she’s been sleeping for… a while, at least.

Nilesy’s home, though, and Lomadia rolls her eyes at the distracted singing coming from the kitchen, sitting up and wincing. The plaster’s gone from her neck - a quick brush of her fingers feels only tender skin, like a bruise - but the movement still pulls at the fragile skin. Which of Nano and Nilesy removed it, she wonders as she adjusts herself. Neither of them are known for their steady hands in most situations.

The singing stops, and a few moments later, Nilesy’s head pokes into the nest. He grins at her, faintly awkwardly as always, then bends down to shuffle in.

“You feeling alright, Lom’?” Tilting his head as he makes his way towards her, Nilesy eyes her neck very obviously. “Nano sent me a message telling me what had happened. Sounds like spring’s coming on strong.”

Lomadia raises a hand to flip him off, but doesn’t deny it, nodding with a small smile. It’s not like there’s any  _ point  _ in denying it when it’s so obviously true. 

“Is that bacon cooking?” She asks instead, just able to smell it through the cracked open door.

Nilesy’s grin widens, and he nods, miming cooking. “Pancakes too, if you want them. Thought I’d treat you.”

Lomadia laughs, feeling happiness settle in her stomach. She takes a moment to breathe, and then she flops back down onto the cushions.

“Yeah. Breakfast in bed sounds good to me.” Nilesy rolls his eyes, but salutes as he leaves, and she hears the sizzling of the meat from the next room over. 

With a long breath, Lomadia adjusts the blankets so that they’re just right around her.

She smiles at the canopy, imagining leaves and wildlife and wings.

Her life is often frustrating, the people around her even more so. But right now, she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not happy with this but i needed to get it out into the world
> 
> as usual, you can find me at screechfoxes on tumblr
> 
> edited: to backdate it to the correct date


End file.
